To say that Caitlin Ryan was once again extremely furious at Joey Jeremiah probably would have been the most biggest understatement of the year as she began making her way towards the entrance of Degrassi Junior High School, an old rustic brick building situated in a quiet Toronto suburb on Degrassi Street.
Once again, he stood her up at Lucy Fernandez's party Friday night.
A party that she, along with her two other friends, Melanie and Kathleen weren't exactly 'welcomed' into with open arms as most of the guests there were strictly ninth graders only.
When they had mentioned that Snake and Joey invited them, Lucy let them in, informing them that the boys would be a bit late on arrival due to the fact they were in the process of getting beer for the party.
"This is not like our parties" asserted Kathleen as she headed towards the stairwell to sit down.
Caitlin and Melanie followed suit, waiting patiently for the boys to arrive.
Throughout the night, they remained there on the stairwell talking among themselves since nobody else acknowledged their presence, wondering out loud where Joey and Snake were and what could possibly be taking them so long to arrive as Ten O'clock rolled around.
Little did they know through, the party would soon come to a screeching halt as the phone began to ring off the hook.
Amy Holmes, one of the ninth graders in attendance took notice and immediately signalled to Lucy who quickly turned off the music and ordered everyone to be quiet before removing one of her ear rings to answer it.
"Hello? Oh, hi Mom. Oh...studying. You're still at the airport? But it's only 10:00. Your flight was cancelled."
Upon saying that, many of the guests looked at one another in shock.
"Alright...see you soon. Bye." Lucy said as she hung up the phone. "Guys, my parents will be home in half an hour. Everyone clean up!"
Just to be polite to the host, Caitlin, Kathleen and Melanie stuck around to help with the clean up, even through they didn't feel very welcome at that point before getting their jackets on and headed back for home.
"Well, that was a very exciting party...I could have just stayed at home and studied instead!" Kathleen muttered sarcastically as they began walking down the street.
"Don't say I never do anything for you Kathleen!" sighed Melanie. "I wonder what had happened to Snake, Joey and Wheels through?"
"Didn't Lucy say they were in the process of getting beer? Isn't that illegal? Maybe they got caught!"
"Kathleen!" Caitlin muttered under her breath. "Let's not jump to conclusions here."
The next day, Caitlin found out what had happened to the guys and why they were a no show at Lucy's through Melanie, who had called her shortly after getting off the phone with Snake.
Turns out Kathleen had been right as they had been caught drinking in public and were brought to the police station.
Thankfully, no charges had been made for either public intoxication or drinking underage, but they did however get off with a warning through.
As Caitlin neared the main doors, she heard her name being called out.
"Caitlin, wait up..."
It was Joey.
Instead of waiting for him like he wanted, she ignored him and headed into the building, not really in the mood to speak to him.
Joey however quickened his pace to catch up to her none the less, desperate to explain what had happened from his point of view.
"Caitlin...can I at least explain what happened? I didn't mean to stand you up this time, really. Are we still going to the dance at least?"
"No." Caitlin replied rather curtly as she finally reached her locker to put her bag and jacket away before storming into Mr. Raditch's class.
"Come on Caitlin...I want to go to the graduation dance with you."
"Why, so you can stand me up again like you did Friday night at Lucy's party?"
"It wasn't my fault. I wanted to go to Lucy's party but...the cops took us to the police station, they called our parents. There was nothing I could do."
"You shouldn't have bought beer, let alone drink it in public! You know you're underage, Joey!"
"That was a mistake." Joey sighed.
"It's always a mistake! I'm getting real sick and tired of being stood up all the time."
Before Joey could get another word out, Mr. Raditch came in with a stack full of papers in his arms.
"Greetings inspiring scholars. Welcome to your last exam of grade eight." he greeted as he began going down the aisles handing out the papers. "Please keep the papers face down until I can tell you to begin, write your name on the upper right hand corner..."
Suddenly the fire alarm began to sound, causing the classroom to moan in annoyance.
"This is the sixth time this week!" Arthur announced with frustration.
"No way guys, it's just another false alarm!" said Kathleen.
"Quiet please. Quiet. It could be a real fire this time...leave everything on your desk and exit the building quietly!" Mr. Raditch addressed as he quickly picked up the papers he had already distributed.
As the class began to evacuate, Joey saw this as another opportunity to convince Caitlin to go to the graduation dance with him.
"Come on, Caitlin. It's the graduation dance. I want to go with you. Don't you like me?"
Caitlin thought about it for a bit...
"Caitlin, Joey...now is not the time to be socializing. We have an emergency here, let's go!" Mr. Raditch warned as he waited patiently by the classroom door.
"OK..."
"OK to Mr. Raditch's warning or OK as in...?"
"OK as in going to the dance. But if anything goes wrong Joey,"
"Nothing will go wrong Caitlin, I promise. It'll be perfect! Trust me." Joey replied as they finally headed out the door. "YES!"
"I said quietly, Joey..."
"Sorry Mr. Raditch, sheesh. Yes!"
"Joey, what did I just say about being quiet?"
"Look, I bet this is just another false alarm. Listen, Mr. Lawrence will come onto the PA system to address the situation right...about...NOW!"
"May I have your attention please, may I have your attention please...the proceeding is definitely a false alarm. Please return to your classrooms immediately. That is all." Mr. Lawrence announced, sounding very annoyed.
"See? I told ya!"
Mr. Raditch just rolled his eyes as Joey began making his way back towards the classroom along with the rest of his classmates.
In Mr. Garcia's class, the ninth graders were getting ready to start their exam as Mr. Garcia went around distributing the papers and explaining the rules.
"You only have one hour to complete the exam. There will be no talking...no gum chewing allowed. Mr. Thomas, could you be so kind as to spitting that out in the trash bin, please and thank you." Mr. Garcia exclaimed as he checked his watch. "And you may now begin."
On cue, all the students turned their sheets over, reading over the questions and jotting down what they hoped would be the right answers.
While many breezed through the pages, some struggled to comprehend the questions, shaking and scratching their heads in confusion.
Derek Wheeler was one of those students.
At the beginning of the school year, he was met with an unfortunate tragedy as he had lost not one, but both his parents in a severe car accident brought on by an intoxicated driver while they were making their way home from the movies.
Derek could have been with them as well that night, but instead changed his mind on going in favour of sneaking off to Joey's just to finish recording their demo tape of their one and only song, 'Everybody Wants Something'.
In a way, it was both a blessing and a curse all wrapped up into one but often times it felt more like a curse than an actual blessing.
As months went on after the death of his parents, Derek began distancing himself from his friends, including Joey and became rather hostile towards his Grandmother, social worker and fellow teachers when he was more less forced to attend school, making his behavioural record extremely poor to the point where it could jeopardize his chances of heading off into tenth grade next year.
He sat there staring at the sheet of paper in front of him, completely unsure of what to write as his mind was totally blank.
'I am so screwed...' he thought to himself as he tried to answer the questions the best he could.
He only managed to answer three questions before looking up at his fellow classmates who were simply skimming through the pages and writing things down like they were nothing before glancing at the clock.
'Fifteen minutes already gone and what do I have to show for it? Three lousy questions answered and I'm not even sure if those answers are the right ones...'
As the clock neared close to nine thirty, some students began putting their stuff away and turned their sheets over, indicating they were finished as they breathed a sigh of relief and stretched out their tired, tense muscles which really didn't help Derek much either.
He tried to get back to focusing on the task at hand, knowing he only had less than twenty-five minutes left to go.
'Come on Derek, focus. You're going to flunk if you don't...not that I actually give a damn in the first place, but I certainly don't want the old biddy nagging on me either all summer long just because I didn't do so well. Ugh, knowing her, she'd probably send me to Summer School and I certainly don't want to do that!'
He glanced up again to see Mr. Garcia quietly pacing around the room, watching over the students and glancing at his watch every now and again, even through there was a clock located just above the doorway.
"Is everything alright Derek?" Mr. Garcia asked when he saw Derek hasn't been concentrating on his paper, his voice barely above a whisper so that he didn't disturb the other students. "You seem distracted."
"No...no, everything is fine Mr. Garcia."
"Well, you better get back to work on those questions. You only have less than sixteen minutes left."
Derek let out a frustrated sigh as he flipped over the page to more confusing questions, some of which he couldn't quite understand, but he answered them anyway the best he could.
He once more shook his head in disbelief as Mr. Garcia checked his watch again.
"And stop! Can everyone hand in their papers please? I'm sure you all did very well." He muttered as students began handing him their exams on the way out. "Thank you...thank you...thank you...and Derek, can you hand in your paper please? I can't give you anymore time."
"Great, now I know I flunked for sure!" he mumbled to himself as he got up from his desk, closing up the packet of papers then handing it over to Mr. Garcia.
"I wish you the best of luck, Derek. I hope you got at least a few questions answered on this. Your future going into Grade 10 depends on it."
No words could be said as Derek only nodded and left the classroom, making a beeline for his locker.
He wanted to get out of there as soon as humanly possible.
"Hey Snake, how well did you do on your exam?"
"I think I did alright...how about you, Wheels?"
"I think I flunked...I didn't even get to finish mine."
"I'm sure you did well, don't worry. Hey, I'm going to head off to the arcade to unwind from that exam, wanna come with me?"
"Yeah, sure...anything to get me out of my counselling session. Quite frankly I am so done talking about all that's happened this year, how to properly 'handle' dealing with the situation and blah blah blah blah...it's the same old garbage that doesn't help anything at all. Counselling sucks!"
As they locked their lockers, they briefly glanced into Mr. Raditch's room to see Joey was still hard at work writing his exam.
"I wonder how well Joey will do this time? Remember last year...he flunked!"
"Who knows! Come on!" Snake laughed as they began making their way down the stairs. "Man, that exam was brutal..."
Joey once again glanced over the questions on his paper, hoping he got them all right as the bell rang to signal the end of class.
"Hand in your papers please, on my desk face down. Neatly." Mr. Raditch addressed as the students one by one walked up to the front of the room to hand in their exam sheet.
'I hope I did it right this time around...I can't fail. I have to pass in order to go to the dance!' Joey thought to himself as he got up to hand in his sheet. "Um, Mr. Raditch, when are the marks going to be ready?"
"They'll be available tomorrow after school, Joey."
"Great, thanks!" Joey said as he grabbed his fedora and headed out! "This is going to be a dynamite dance! See ya around Caitlin!"
Caitlin smiled as she watched Joey go before heading up to the front of the class.
"So, I see you and Joey have made up." observed Melanie.
"I think so...I like him. I shouldn't, but I can't help it." Said Caitlin as they headed out to their locker.
"Did Joey explain what happened Friday Night?"
"Yeah, he did. I just wish he would stop doing these stupid, ridiculous mistakes. He's way better than this...I know he's way better than this!"
"Would Louella Hawkins please see Doris Bell in the School Office immediately. Louella Hawkins." Mr. Lawrence announced over the PA System.
"Hmm, I wonder if they're finally going to do something about those annoying false alarms?!" Melanie pondered upon hearing the custodian's name being called.
"I don't know...I hope they do something about it soon through...maybe that's why Louella's been called down to the office...it's so annoying having to evacuate only to be told to come back in again time after time."
"And the fire department has been here over a dozen or so times now as well...I'm sure they too are getting pretty fed up with it! Do schools also get fined for nuisance calls?"
"I'm sure they do, Melanie. If that's the case, I wonder how many fines Degrassi already has to it's name?"
"You wanted to see me, Doris?" snapped Louella Hawkins as she rushed into the office.
"Well, hello to you too Louella." Doris replied in return, causing the custodian to let out a sigh.
"I'm sorry Doris...I didn't mean to snap at you. It's just that, I'm getting so tired of dealing with these constant false alarms and then having various Fire Marshals all over the city call you, some copping a damn attitude with you like it's our fault we can't keep the fire alarms from going off! Sorry, it's a malfunction beyond our control here...We can't simply shut off the system either cause that would be what? Illegal. I am so beyond frustrated at this point...I'm also way behind schedule as well due to said alarms going off...it's times like this I wish someone could CLONE me so I can be at two different places at once! Then it wouldn't be such a hassle!"
"Well, pretty soon this will all be put to rest Louella. We just received a call confirming that the boiler repair crew is on their way...they said they should be here very shortly."
"Well, they must have FLOWN here cause we have two vehicles out front with the name 'Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Service' written on the side. I just saw them unloading their equipment now actually when I walked past the main doors to get to the office."
"Wow...that was fast. Just think, the sooner they get going on the repair work, the better things will hopefully be for now on here at Degrassi. No more false alarms, no more overactive furnaces...we can put them all behind us and look forward to the future!"
"Yeah, let's hope! The way things are going now Doris, I really do not look forward to yet another winter full of constant malfunctions! This past winter had been brutal enough as it was!"
Doris smirked at that.
"Don't I know it considering how much brunt I got from it all. Almost every single day from you it was 'Doris, where's the part I ordered? Doris, is that damn part in yet? Doris, if that part isn't in today, so help me'..."
"Well at least you weren't constantly getting complaints from both staff as well as students and then getting your head chewed off when the answer you give them is one they simply didn't want to hear from you!"
"It was good of Dr. Schonder to see Emma so quickly. I'll pick up the prescription." exclaimed Ms Nelson as she pulled up to Degrassi Junior High School so she could drop Christine off for her scheduled exam with Ms. Avery.
"More money..." Christine moaned as she got out of the car and said goodbye to her soon to be one year old daughter Emma, who was at the moment very miserable due to being sick once more.
"We can afford this, don't worry. Good luck on your exam!"
"I don't want to write it..."
"You want to go to University, right?"
Christine shrugged her shoulders, feeling very unsure of herself as she began making her way towards the main doors of the school.
"Just do the best you can...see you later, honey."
As Ms. Nelson drove off with Emma, Christine stopped to check out the activity going on with the boiler repair folks for a bit before heading up towards the doors.
"Um, excuse me...you wouldn't mind holding these doors while we get these containers in here?" a woman dressed in an orange jumpsuit asked as she struggled to rush towards the main entrance of the school, carefully carrying in her hands two grey coloured containers with the word "FLAMMABLE' labelled in big, red letters on the sides. "These containers can be quite dangerous if not handled properly..."
"Sure thing..." Christine replied as she held the door open.
"Thanks. It'll only be for a minute, OK, set these things down on this trolley like so and there. Phew, my fellow co-workers should be coming up with the rest of the containers and other equipment shortly. I hope we're not keeping you from anything."
"Oh, no... there's no rush. I'm a bit early to begin with. I'm here to write my final exam which doesn't start til 10:30 so I'm good."
"Alright, and good luck on your exam by the way...I hope you'll do well."
Christine smiled. "I hope so too, Miss."
"The name's Marianne. No worries! Just think, after this it'll be nothing but long, hot summer days of fun and freedom for two whole months! No more pencils, no more books, no more teachers dirty looks!" the woman replied as she waited on the rest of her crew. "Goodness, these guys can be so slow!"
"It's OK...I don't mind, really!"
"Still, we're holding you back and we really shouldn't. We too also have a schedule to maintain...come on, you guys! We haven't got all day you know!"
Quickly, a few other orange jumpsuit wearing workers came up towards the school, carrying more containers, thick wires and other unknown pieces of equipment.
"Sorry about that...we appreciate your help though, um...?"
"Christine...and thanks for the well wishes Marianne. Good luck on whatever it is you're going to be working on around here." said Christine as she then headed off to the office to sign in.
"Thanks. We're definitely going to be needing it...that's for sure. So, we got everything?" the woman asked one of her fellow co-workers, who was doing a double check to make sure.
"I believe so..."
"Alright, let's head for the office. I've never seen wiring like this!"
"Not since last year."
"This place needs a lot of work...you think this stuff is safe out here?"
"Oh yeah, we just need a signature. We won't be long...Hello, we've come to repair the boiler system."
"Ah, yes...yes come in please." Doris addressed. "I'm Doris Bell, the School secretary here at Degrassi Junior High School and this here is our head custodian, Louella Hawkins."
"Nice to meet you both. I'm Dan and this is my assistant, Marianne from the Narbo Gas Boiler Repair Emergency Service. Before we get started, we need to ask for a signature from the both of you... for our records..."
"Yes, of course..."
"This is your Principal, Mr. Lawrence speaking. We apologize for the recent rash of annoying false alarms. Both the faulty wiring is responsible and our always erratic furnace systems are being repaired. Please be patient while this work continues. Thank you."
"Great timing for that announcement..." Louella muttered as she then signed the paper.
"It's that bad huh?" Dan asked upon hearing the announcement.
"Yeah, ever since December we've had major problems with the furnace. Mostly it wasn't keeping a steady, healthy temperature throughout the winter months. Often times it seriously felt like we were directly in front of the sun it was so hot in here! Now, recently we've been having major issues with the fire alarms constantly going off...that began sometime around late April, early May. Just before you guys arrived, we just had the alarms go off once more for the sixth time this week alone...it's very frustrating having to stop whatever it is that you're doing just to rush down into the boiler room, open the fire alarm control panel and hit the reset button to shut it off before it sends the signal out to various fire departments all across the city. Since April, we've already received how many fines from the city now, Doris?"
"About eight..."
"Yeah...we can't shut off the system entirely cause for one, that would be illegal and two, put at risk the entire building. But then again...we can't keep going on having to deal with whatever it is that's triggering them to go off constantly in the first place on a regular daily basis either. It's like being stuck between a rock and a hard place, you know?"
"That is completely understandable Ms. Hawkins and no worries...we'll get to the very bottom of your boiler issues and have them repaired as soon as we possibly can!"
"Thank you so much...let me lead you to our chaos that is the boiler room then so you can get started...follow me. Please excuse the mayhem that's going on around here at the moment...it's year end exam time for many of our students..."
Tessa Campanelli had just finished up her History exam and was at her locker when her best friend and fellow classmate Scott Webster, otherwise known as Scooter came up from behind and tapped her shoulder.
"You're it!" he yelled as he began running the opposite direction down the hall.
"Not for long!" Tessa replied as she quickly ran after him, nearly running into Lucy, L.D, Heather and Erica.
"Hey...watch it, stupid little kids!" Erica shouted.
"Ugh, I can't wait to get out of this place!" grumbled Lucy. "Finally, a real high school. Bye-bye Junior High!"
"I can't wait to get out of here too..." added in L.D. "These kids are giving me a headache...Hey, there's Spike!"
"Hi guys..." Spike greeted when she saw the girls approach her. "How was the exam this time around?"
"A bit on the harder side, but I'm sure you'll do well!" answered Heather. "So, how's Emma?"
"Well, we took her to the doctor again this morning...another typical infection."
"Oh no...I hope she gets better soon, Spike." said Lucy as they began walking towards the Resource Centre.
"Thanks...it's so exhausting having to deal with a sick baby and having to study for exams at the exact same time. I hardly got any sleep at all last night because I was up taking care of Emma every couple of hours. Truth be told, I'm not even ready to write out this exam. I don't think I can do it...but I have to, otherwise I'll flunk my entire year, if I haven't already done so!"
"Don't worry Spike, I'm sure you'll do fine. Have they found out what could be causing all these constant infections?" asked L.D.
"Yeah, they said that because Emma was born prematurely over a year ago, her immune system isn't all that great and is prone to getting easily infected with various illnesses. Doctors are hoping as years go on, her immune system begins to get stronger so she can fight infections on her own without the constant need for medication."
"OK, what's with all these guys in the bright, tacky orange jumpsuits all of a sudden? I looked out the window earlier and saw a bunch of them outside the school." inquired Erica.
"Oh, I think they're finally going to repair the school's boiler system. It's about time they did something about it. Anyway, I'll talk to you guys later!"
"Alright Spike, good luck!" the girls replied as they headed out.
"Call us when you get home Spike, OK? Tell us how it went!" added in Heather.
Spike nodded, then took a deep breath as she stood by the Resource Centre door before opening it, grabbing the attention of Ms. Avery who was in the process of marking some exam papers from her seventh grade class.
"Spike...are you all set?" she asked, getting up from her seat and grabbed another piece of paper that laid on the edge of the table.
"I guess so..."
"How's Emma?"
"She's sick again." Spike sighed as she took her seat.
"Aww. Babies can't help being sick. There you go."
"Thanks."
"Oh, and if you drop by to see me tomorrow afternoon, I should have your marks ready for you." Ms. Avery exclaimed as she went to close the door before returning back to marking her papers.
Taking one look at the exam, Spike rolled her eyes in frustration before getting to work.
'I am so screwed.' she thought to herself.
"Hi, Mom. I'm home!" Joey announced as he came in through the back door and took off his jacket, setting it down on the chair.
"How was the exam?" Mrs. Jeremiah asked with a hint of concern in her voice.
"Piece of cake!"
"Remember our deal Joey, anything under a 'B' and you don't go to the dance. We're serious. You can't talk your way out of this one!"
"Trust me, Mom!"
"I seem to have heard that before!"
Joey smiled as he took a cookie from the cookie jar to munch on.
"Mom, you were a 'chick' once...right?"
Mrs. Jeremiah chuckled a bit at the question.
"I suppose I was a 'chick' once...why?"
"It's just...I like Caitlin. Like a lot, and...I don't want to mess things up again."
"And?"
"Well...if you were her, would you like it if I brought you flowers to the dance, or would you think it was sucky?"
"No...I'd think it was very romantic!"
"Really?"
"I think it's a lovely idea, sweetie. I'm sure she would be delighted."
"Thanks Mom...um, do you have any money I can borrow?"
"I knew there was a catch to this...OK."
Louella Hawkins was utterly exhausted as she made her way down into the basement one last time to inform the repair crew that she would be closing up the school for the night and that they needed to call it a day.
However, just as she began to make her way towards the boiler room door, she couldn't help but notice a rather dangerous practice being done.
"Now I am no boiler repair expert by any means, but I do know that storing liquids and gases that are either explosive or flammable next to any type of heat source is an endangerment. I'd better advise them on that..." she exclaimed as she went into the boiler room. "Hey guys, first off it's now 4:30 and I'm about ready to close up for the night. Second of all, these containers and cylinders you guys have outside the boiler room...are you sure they will be safe there being next to a heat source?"
"Um...yeah, they should be...they're not exactly close to the boiler room door so they should be fine there...no worries. Also, we're just about finished for the day ourselves. Just got to clean things up and then we'll be heading off. We'll be up shortly!" said Marianne as she proceeded to wipe her hands clean. "We certainly got a lot of work on our hands that's for sure...You guys have more issues than what you first thought."
"Oh? What else is going on with these boilers?"
"Far too much to actually explain, but we will see into these issues and have them fixed up for you in no time!"
"Alright, I trust you guys know what you're doing..."
"That we do Ms. Hawkins, no worries! We'll be up shortly."
Louella headed back up the stairs where the rest of her crew were waiting, all wanting to get home so they too could relax for the evening.
"I've told them...they said they'll be up shortly!" she exclaimed, her voice barely above a whisper as she tried to regain her breath from coming back up the stairs.
"Oh, um...did you bring up the issue with those flammable containers and cylinders being stored next to the boiler room door?" asked Josh. "I noticed that earlier today when they were unpacking their equipment."
"Yeah, I did...they said it should be fine where they are...although I do have my doubts. Even we know better than to store flammable or explosive stuff any-where's near hot areas. I just hope nothing bad happens tonight...It makes me rather nervous actually leaving this building knowing we have an endangerment next to the boiler room. If they say it's OK, who am I to disagree, right? After all, they are the experts in boiler repairing. They know what they're doing."
"I certainly hope so." replied Mary. "Although I too have my doubts about them."
"Shh, shh, they're coming up. Everyone keep your thoughts to yourselves." Scott hissed as he heard the crew coming up the stairs.
"So sorry about that guys...we didn't mean to hold you all up like that. First thing tomorrow morning we'll start getting to work on boiler number 2 and try to find out what's triggering your fire alarm system to go off constantly among other problems we have discovered. So, what time is convenient for you guys?" asked Dan.
"Um, Eight o'clock...does that sound good to you guys?"
The other custodians nodded their approval as the repair crew began making their way out of the school.
"Alright, we'll see you bright and early at Eight then. Have a good night!"
"Good night, guys. Night Ms. Hawkins." Marianne greeted as she too left.
When the repair crew left, Louella turned back to her crew with a grim look at her face.
"You know something guys, I got a really bad feeling about all this!"